Live! by Loews - St. Louis opened this week as part of the Phase 2 development of Ballpark Village in downtown St. Louis, Mo.

Located across the street from the St. Louis Cardinals’ Busch Stadium, the 164,650 SF hotel features 216 luxury guest rooms, 19 suites and an exclusive fitness facility.

The 17,000 SF meeting and special event space features panoramic views of Busch Stadium, downtown St. Louis and the Gateway Arch.

“Many of the rooms look right into the ballpark. We feel that partnering with sports teams gives us the opportunity to make very unique destinations,” said Jonathan Tisch, chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels.

Loews restaurant and lounge options include Clark & Bourbon, a neighborhood steakhouse; The Bullock, an outdoor terrace and bar; Bar Bourbon, located in the lobby housing a bourbon-aging room; and River Market, a grab-and-go organic bistro.

The hotel, designed by HKS Architects, also includes a grand ballroom, an executive boardroom, break-out meeting rooms and an exclusive outdoor event terrace.

The $100 million first phase of Ballpark Village, which included several bars and restaurants, opened just ahead of the 2014 baseball season.

With the new hotel as one of the final pieces of the $261 million second phase, the entertainment district and neighborhood is finally becoming the vision the Cardinals ownership envisioned when it partnered with the developer, The Cordish Companies, over a decade ago.

“This level of luxury is unparalleled in downtown St. Louis… and the design fits perfectly on the site,” said Bill DeWitt III, St. Louis Cardinals president, in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch statement.

General contractor, Paric Construction, celebrated the new Live! by Loews hotel at this week’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. Watch video here.

Paric has led several of the Ballpark projects since Phase One in 2013 — including Live! by Loews, OneLife Fitness and One Cardinal Way, a luxury apartment high-rise that will complete the second phase of the development. The 297-unit, 29-story apartment tower is slated to open in June 2020.

Other projects in the second phase include the PricewaterhouseCoopers office building and Sports & Social-St. Louis.

A portion of the development is backed by tax revenue generated from Ballpark Village tenants. City officials estimate the project will still generate about $2 million in new tax revenue even while the bonds are being paid off.